That night, as usual, he said he couldn't meet up with me. But somehow, I had a bizarre feeling that I would see him.
My friend's sister and brother-in-law were coming back to Hong Kong and we have arranged to meet up after their dinner. Since they're going to have dinner in Wan Chai, so I suggested to go to The Pawn. It wasn't opened yet when they were last here.
After a few rounds of drinks, my friend's sister was whinging that the place is too "gwai lo" and wanted to go to a local bar. Well the few of us who are local actually found it difficult. Is there really a local bar in Wan Chai? We only know about the so-called "gwai lo" places like The Pawn, 1/5. Or, the girlie bars or pick up joints along Lockhart Road and Jaffe Road... At this point, the only white guy among us - the brother-in-law said, "Oh last time S brought us to a local bar - where people play dice games. It's not far from here. I'll show you."
Well, what could we say? So we headed towards Jaffe Road even though we wondered where we're going... Obviously, the mysterious local bar was not to be found. We were near Joe Banana's when we finally gave up. There were two bars upstairs and we just thought we should give it a go. The first one had a live band but it was way too loud to have any conversation there. Once we stepped into the other bar... the words "meat market" popped up. Seeing as none of us had any idea where else to go, we decided to have a drink there.
As we walked towards the bar, time seemed to stand still.
He was there.
I sent a text to him while my friends were ordering. My hands were shaking uncontrollably.
He was with a guy and a girl. Was that his girl friend? Or catch of the day? Honestly, I didn't want to know.
He didn't seem to have seen me but his male friend was staring at me.
In the end my friend saw him too and asked if I wanted them to beat him up. I of course said no, thank you. Not that I wanted to defend him. It's just that I'm a nobody. Who am I to have a say in this? And I've known that for too long...
I wasn't too worked up that night. But still I cried after I got home.
那天晚上，一如以往，他說不能和我見面。可是不知怎的，我有種莫名其妙的預感，覺得會碰到他。
好朋友C的妹妹及妹夫從英國回來，約好了晚飯後見。得知他們在灣仔吃飯，我便提議到 The Pawn。上次他們回來時，好像還未開幕。
酒過三巡，妹妹說這兒太洋化了，建議找間港式酒吧繼續飲。這下可考起我們這班港燦了。在灣仔，較為 up market 的酒吧都很「洋化」，如 The Pawn、1/5 等。而其餘的，就是洛克道、謝斐道一帶的 girlie bars 或 pick up joints。真的不知可以帶他們到哪兒去。怎料身為老外的妹夫卻在此時說：「上次 S 君帶我去了一間 local bar，有人玩骰盅那種呢！就在附近，我帶你們去。」
就這樣，我們一行六人便向謝斐道方向走，縱然大家都滿腹狐疑 ... ... 最後，當然找不到傳聞中的 local bar。行至 Joe Banana's，我們終於放棄，看到樓上也有兩間酒吧，便走上去看個究竟。首先進的一間有 live band，但實在太噪了。下層的一間 ... ... 一行進便有一股濃烈的 meat market 氣息湧上來，很有當年 Fenwick 的風格！但既然一場來到，也不妨喝一杯才走吧。就在行往酒吧的途中，時間彷彿停頓了。
他，在那兒。
就在朋友 order 啤酒時，我發短訊給他。我的手抖得很厲害。
他和一男一女一起。那是他的女朋友？還是 catch of the day 呢？說實的，我不想知道。
後來朋友 C 都看到他了。她問我要不要替我打他出一口氣。我當然說不。並不是我那麼維護他，只是，我算是老幾呢？憑甚麼呢？
那晚回到家，並沒有太激動，但還是哭了。
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